


A Mess In The Mirror

by killingmonsterswritingthings



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Hair Washing, Haircuts, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killingmonsterswritingthings/pseuds/killingmonsterswritingthings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy asks Law to cut his hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mess In The Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> this all started with _me_ getting a haircut and thinking about lawlu. you're welcome.  
>  (it turned out even sadder than i wanted it to be and i'm sorry for that :') )

 

It had been a quiet afternoon so far, with Law leaning against the mast of the Thousand Sunny reading and enjoying some solitude – until Luffy bounded up to him, his trademark grin on his face.

“Hey, Torao!”

Law slowly lowered his book, putting it down on the bench. “What is it?”

“Can you cut my hair?” Luffy asked and Law blinked in confusion.

“I don't... really do that,” he said, hesitantly. Shachi did most of the hair cutting on the submarine when it became necessary and he didn't always do it well, either.

“Why not? You're a surgeon, you cut people up for a living,” Luffy said, cocking his head to the side.

Law winced. “Those are two very different things, Luffy-ya.”

“Okay, but couldn't you just like, cut it off in your Room and if it looks terrible put it back on?”

“That's not really how it works...” Law mumbled, shaking his head. Now that Luffy mentioned it, though, he had been starting to look kind of shaggy, his hair even wilder than usual.

“When was the last time you cut your hair?” Law asked, leaning forward to get a better look but not daring to touch.

“Umm,” Luffy made, scrunching up his face while he tried to remember. “Over two years, actually, maybe? We had to cut it all off after-,” he made a hand motion that Law interpreted as meaning ' _after Marineford, after Ace' death, after you put me back together_ ' and he nodded slightly to signal that he understood, “remember? Because there was all kinds of _stuff_ in there and it was partially burnt off and it was really short then.”

Law frowned slightly, looking at Luffy's hair. “That's not a lot of hair for two years though,” he wondered.

“Ah,” Luffy said, like he had remembered something, “old man Rayleigh cut it again while we were training but that was also forever ago!”

Law tapped his foot on the grass for a moment. “Who did that before, when you guys were at sea?” he asked.

“Robin, usually,” Luffy shrugged. “Usopp, sometimes, but he complains about messing it up the entire time. And Franky tried once but he wanted to give me a mohawk and that's not really my thing – it looks cool on him though!”

“Hm,” Law made. “But why not ask Robin-ya then?”

Luffy pulled at one of the longer strands unhappily. “I'm starting to look like Ace,” he mumbled instead of giving a direct answer, which was highly unusual.. “I'm only missing the freckles.”

Law studied Luffy's face and he didn't see the resemblance – though the hair was the same length. But he wasn't the one who had grown up with Ace and he wasn't the one who had to see Luffy's face in the mirror every day.

“Luffy-ya,” Law said and it came out a little too soft for his liking, “why me?”

Luffy shrugged, avoiding his gaze like a scolded child. Was he shy? _Embarrassed_? Law couldn't tell.

The silence stretched out for a minute before Luffy mumbled a “I didn't want to bother the others.” Law called bullshit on that one – or at least suspected it was a half-lie. Luffy didn't want to bother the people he had been sailing around the globe with for years but would pester Law? Bullshit.

But he wasn't the prime example of authentic emotions either, so he held back his questions. Luffy had his reasons. And he seemed to trust Law with this.

They looked at each other for a moment until Law sighed. “Alright, I'll do it.”

Another smile split Luffy's face and yeah, that was the expression Law was used to. This was better.

 

So they found themselves in the bathroom five minutes later. Luffy had found scissors somewhere but Law had realised quickly they were made for paper and was now going through the cabinets to look for a pair that were actually made to cut hair. If the Strawhats were halfway organized – and they usually were thanks to the more rational members of the crew – there had to be one around somewhere.

Finally he found them in a small cupboard next to the sink, shoved behind a few empty bottles of cologne, a broken brush and something that must have been a small bucket once.

“Got them,” he said triumphantly, straightening up, and Luffy clapped excitedly.

While Law had been looking for the scissors the rubber man had dragged a small stool into the bathroom from somewhere – possibly the library, Law wasn't entirely sure – and now slumped onto it with an expectant grin.

“I think we should put a towel around your shoulders so you don't get annoying hairs everywhere,” Law said. To be fair, Luffy had been almost right and this fell somewhere between an operation and cooking and keeping everything clean was important for both.

“You're the one with the scissors,” Luffy shrugged and grabbed two towels from the top shelf across from him. While he was sitting down, of course.

Law left the scissors on the bathroom counter with an eyeroll and stepped closer to Luffy. “You should probably get your hair wet first.”

“Not only do you have the scissors, you're also the _boss_ now,” Luffy quipped, bouncing to his feet and over to the tub. The towels were just left on the stool.

“Well, technically I am,” Law said, raising his eyebrows slightly, and watched as Luffy bent over the tub while he took the towels and put them down on the shelf next to the tub. “Just not yours.”

Luffy snorted. “That's because we're equals,” he said. “So, are you gonna wash my hair?”

Law blinked in confusion. “Can't you do that yourself?”

“I can, but I'm gonna make a mess and probably get us both wet.”

“Fine,” Law said hastily. He really didn't need to imagine that. He took the shower head and fiddled with the controls. Warm water shot out of the shower head and Law found himself testing it with his hand on instinct. He froze for a second before moving to wet Luffy's hair. At first he only wanted to run the water over his head and get most of it drenched but then he overcame his hesitation and reached out, careful combing it to one side first so the water could reach everywhere.

“I used to do this when I was small,” he suddenly said, to his own surprise, running his hand through Luffy's hair. “I washed my sister's hair sometimes.”

Luffy hummed under the water. “Did you also cut it?”

Law shook his head. “No, never. My... my mother did that.”

Luffy didn't say anything to that and Law shut the water off with a shaking hand. “Do you want me to shampoo it too?”

“Nope, this is fine,” Luffy chuckled and wanted to straighten up but Law held him in place with a hand between his shoulder blades.

“Wait, you'll get water everywhere.” He grabbed one of the towels and put it over Luffy's head, slowly and carefully patting to soak up the excess water. “Alright, done, you can... get up,” he said and took the towel away, a weird tingling sensation in his hands.

Luffy emerged laughing, with his hair sticking up in funny places. “That felt nice.” He went back to the stool and sat down.

“I'll just...” Law could feel his face flushing for some goddamn reason and turned away to take the second towel and drape it around Luffy's neck and shoulders. “That should work.”

Luffy peered up at him and his usual grin was nowhere in sight. “You've never talked about this, have you?”

Law felt his heart jump into his throat. “No,” he said and stepped to the side to take the scissors and a comb from the counter, “I haven't.”

Luffy hummed noncommittally and Law hoped he would drop the topic – strangely hypocritical and a paradox in itself, him being the one who had brought it up. But instead of continuing to worry about it he held the side of Luffy's head with one hand, combing through his hair with the other.

“How short do you want it?” he asked.

The first answer was a shrug. “I don't know. Shorter.”

Law sighed. “Promise you won't complain if I take off too much?”

“Nah, it's hair. It'll grow back. Half the time you don't really see it anyway,” Luffy said.

Law decided to start at the back, carefully separating a few strands of hair with the comb and holding them between his fingers like he had seen his mother do a million times when he was younger. His hands started shaking again and the comb fell to the floor.

“What's wrong?” Luffy asked.

“I don't know if this was a good idea,” Law said and he hated how not only his hands but voice too was shaking.

Luffy slightly turned in his seat and craned his neck in a way that didn't look comfortable to Law but probably didn't even feel out of the ordinary to Luffy to look at Law with a slight frown. “You're thinking about your sister,” he said, phrasing it as a statement rather than a question and Law hated how perceptive he was in situations like these.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I'm sorry,” Luffy said.

“She was so _young_ ,” Law said and he went to his knees, told himself it was to pick up the comb, “and I couldn't help her.” He hadn't told anyone about this, ever. Even his own crew only knew the bare bones, whatever had been necessary to _explain_. And he knew Luffy was always interested in stories but also didn't care enough to chase them when someone didn't want to talk.

There was a small sigh from above him and then he could feel Luffy's warm hand at the back of his neck. “It wasn't your fault.”

“How do you know?” Law avoided looking at him. Luffy didn't even know the whole story, there had been no time, no opportunity – and Law was never too fond of talking about it.

“Because you were a child yourself,” Luffy said with a seriousness Law remembered him saving for the worst battles. “Because it wasn't mine either and it took me a long time to accept that.”

Law did pick up the comb at that point and Luffy's hand fell from his shoulder. “I think I'm still angry,” he confessed, getting back on his feet. “That no one helped. That we were all abandoned and left to die and burn.”

“That's better than being mad at yourself though,” Luffy said. “You can channel that.”

“The first time I tried I ended up joining the Donquixote family at the age of 13,” Law mumbled drily.

Luffy laughed. “You're older now,” he said. “Smarter. And I mean, we ended up taking him down, so I guess that worked out.”

“You're unbelievable,” Law said, starting to comb his hair again, and Luffy turned back to his original position. Law's hands weren't shaking anymore.

“I know,” Luffy grinned, accompanied by the first _snip_ of the scissors. “Ah, did you change your mind?”

Law watched the black hair float to the ground. “Well, if I botch this up you might never ask me again and that's definitely going to be an improvement.”

Luffy's shoulders shook in laughter but he kept quiet otherwise and let Law work for once.

Honestly, Law wasn't sure how Luffy's hair would turn out in the end. He just kept cutting and hoped that there would be no weird looking spots.

“You do have freckles, you know,” he said at some point and tapped the juncture of Luffy's neck and shoulder with his pinky finger. “Right here. Not a lot and they're very light, but they're there.”

“What?” Luffy tried to turn his head and see but Law quickly stilled his head with the hand that was holding the comb.

“Careful, do you want to get stabbed into the right side of your face and get a matching scar under that eye too?”

“Eh,” Luffy made, “probably not worth it.” Then he sighed. “At least I have no freckles on my face. Would feel kinda weird, you know?”

“I guess,” Law shrugged. Ace and Luffy hadn't even been blood-related, there was no real family resemblance there. But then again Law had only ever seen Ace in person once – tragically – and on pictures. And Law himself avoided looking in the mirror a lot, not only because he hated how exhausted and ghostly he looked but also because every time he asked himself what Lami would look like if she had ever gotten to grow up.

He cut off another centimeter of a strand of hair. He had no idea how he would know when he was done.

“Was your sister's hair black too?” Luffy asked and Law flinched slightly, drawing back the scissors.

“No,” he mumbled, hesitating for a second. “No, it was brown.” He ran his hair through Luffy's hair to test the length. “About as thick as yours, though, I think.” He remembered that much.

“Ace's hair was thinner than mine,” Luffy mumbled.

Law cut off more hair.

“I think it's going to be shorter now than it used to be,” he said apologetically.

“That's okay,” Luffy said. “I told you, it's fine. Are you done yet?”

“Impatient, aren't you?” Law slightly shook his head. “Not yet, I still need to even it out on the left.”

Luffy sighed but even made an effort to still the nervous bounce of his right leg. “I miss him,” he suddenly said. “Every day. I don't need to see him in the mirror all the time, too.”

“I miss them, too,” Law said. His sister. His parents. The few childhood friends he had had, whose faces he couldn't even remember anymore. Corazón.

“It doesn't really get better, does it?” Luffy asked.

Law wiped some hair from his arm. “I don't know,” he said truthfully. “Sometimes I don't think about it as much, I guess. But it never really goes away.”

“Well,” Luffy said and Law could basically hear the smile returning to his face, “good thing we have something to live for. We have our crews and our alliance and each other.”

This time it was the scissors that almost slipped from Law's grasp. He would never get used to Luffy's brutal earnestness.

“I think I'm done,” he said instead of a proper reply.

“Ohhh, awesome!”

Law had just enough time to take a step back before Luffy had jumped off the stool and bounced over to the sink so he could look at himself in the mirror.

“Sorry if it looks weird,” Law started but Luffy raised his right hand.

“Don't worry about it, it looks fine!”

Law bit his tongue and instead grabbed the towel before it could completely drop off Luffy's shoulders and shook it out a little before tossing it in the laundry basket. The younger pirate was happily pulling at his own hair and staring at himself in the mirror.

His hair was definitely a _lot_ shorter now. Law cringed slightly.

“Hold still, you have some hairs on your neck and if I don't remove them it's going to get itchy,” he then mumbled, brushing his hand over Luffy's exposed skin.

“I'll just shower if it gets too bad,” Luffy said but didn't protest further so Law kept his hand on the back of Luffy's neck for a moment, until Luffy turned around and beamed at him. “This looks great, thank you! I'm gonna show the others!”

And with that he was out of the door and Law could hear him stomping towards the deck, yelling for his crewmates to come look at his hair. Law sighed but couldn't keep the smile off his face as he took in the state of the bathroom. At least sweeping up all the hair would spare him from any more interaction for a few minutes.

Although Luffy had been a lot less annoying the more he got to know him. Maybe his personal brand of weird just grew on a person, Law mused as he tipped the first load of swept up hair into the trashcan.

Or maybe Luffy just knew how to listen – even if it didn't look like it a lot of the time.

Law's smile widened and he put the scissors at an easier accessible place over the sink. Maybe they would come in handy again in the future.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/luffylaws) or [tumblr](https://luffylaws.tumblr.com), I'm always up for new One Piece friends and yelling about LawLuffy!


End file.
